Police probe Kouachi’s counterfeit connections

“Sales of counterfeit goods by Charlie Hebdo attacker Cherif Kouachi helped fund the purchase of weapons,” according to a CNN source. The LA Times reports that Cherif Kouachi began “trafficking in counterfeit clothing and shoes” after his release from jail.

The revelations point to an additional, possible source of revenue behind the terrorist attacks in Paris against Charlie Hebdo’s offices and the Hyper Cacher kosher grocery beyond what has previously been reported. Cherif Kouachi is also said to have received $20,000 from AQAP before leaving Yemen, and fellow terror cell member Amedy Coulibaly purchased several of the weapons used during the attacks drawing from a $7,000 personal loan and possibly by trading in a car. Weapons possessed by the Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly had a reported street value of 27,000 euros.

An associate of Cherif Kouachi, Fritz-Joly Joachim, was arrested in Bulgaria earlier this year, and has since been charged with conspiring with Kouachi in terrorism. A Muslim convert from Haiti with French citizenship, Joachim was arrested while trying to cross the border into Turkey for possible follow-on travel into Syria. Joachim told French television that his dealings with Kouachi were strictly business: “We sold clothes together, shoes, it was just a business connection.” The reporter who interviewed him amplified on those comments, telling Radio Bulgaria that the Kouachi-Joachim business was “re-sale of clothes and shoes across Paris suburbs.”

Connecting the dots between all the reports, it is probable that investigators believe that Kouachi and Joachim were selling knockoffs, and that the money Kouachi made from the sales ultimately helped supplement the funding of the Paris attacks. This wouldn’t be the first time that counterfeit clothes in Europe have been exploited by Islamists: two imams were arrested in for their involvement in a multi-million dollar counterfeit clothing operation in Spain in December 2013.

That being said, while investigators pour over the details of Cherif Kouachi’s finances, we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture of money and training by AQAP in Yemen.

Rivers of fake money flow into India

A flood of counterfeit notes from Dubai, Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, Nepal, Bangladesh, and to some extent from Sri Lanka have left Indians swimming in a pool of devalued rupees.

The fake Indian currency note crisis is benefiting terrorist organizations such as Hizbul Mujahideen and Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Gang with backing from the Pakistani ISI spy service.  Profits from counterfeiting help militants buy weapons.

There seems to be a new story from Indian media every two weeks or so documenting the surging problem.  Here’s the latest from the Times of India, which illustrates both the J&K and Bangladeshi points of ingress for bogus bills, and the jihadist beneficiaries:

NIA files charges against 3 for raising terror funds for Hizbul Mujahideen

TNN Apr 12, 2013

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed charge sheet against three more persons, including a Bangladeshi national, for allegedly raising terror fund for the banned outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) through circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) in Jammu & Kashmir.

The charge sheet against the three accused Badal Sheikh and Fayaz Ahmed (both Indians) and Shafiq-ul (Bangladeshi) was filed in the NIA Special Court in Jammu under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code and the central anti-terror Act on Wednesday.

The Court subsequently issued a non-bailable warrant against absconding Shafiq-ul who was key point person of the Indian accused for supplying FICN through a trans-border cattle smuggler – Badal Sheikh — of West Bengal’s Malda district.

Earlier, the probe agency had filed charge sheet against five persons in the case, alleging that the accused used to procure and supply high quality FICN from Bangladesh and smuggle it into Jammu & Kashmir for raising funds for the terror group.

The five who were charge sheeted earlier include two HM members – Mubarak Ahmed Bhat and Shafaqat Mohiudding Kuchey – and Badal Sheikh.

The NIA in its charge sheet claimed that HM operatives had first contacted Badal who, in turn, approached the Bangladeshi national for procurement of FICN.

“Fayaz Ahmed Rather – a notorious FICN smuggler – started getting high quality fake Indian currency notes from Malda and circulate it in Jammu & Kashmir,” said the NIA.

It’s interesting to note the cattle rustling connection in this story.  The black market in cows, which are revered and illegal to export from India, is a growing area for illicit trade along the border of India and Bangladesh.

Pakistan sends more fake cash for India jihad

Further evidence of Pakistani counterfeiting of Indian currency to support Islamic terrorist operations has come to light.  The latest news from India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) also implicates Dubai (UAE) as a conduit for the funny money on its route from Karachi back through the Gulf, then on to Kerala in India for distribution to jihadists.

Islamic law permits theft against “disbelievers” and does not accept the legitimacy of infidel paper currencies, which legitimizes counterfeiting as a jihadist tactic.

Thanks to Creeping Sharia (actually, @creepingsharia on Twitter) for the link to this story via Haindava Keralam:

Fake currency for Jihad: NIA identifies kingpin

28/12/2011 01:20:21  Daily Pioneer – Kochi

The NIA has identified the main culprit behind the smuggling of Pakistan-manufactured counterfeit “Indian” currency notes into Kerala. The agency has also reportedly found that the counterfeit currencies were smuggled into Kerala to help Jihadi operations in the State.

The kingpin of the operation was identified as one Aboobacker of Kanhangad in Kasaragod district and the NIA has found him to be residing presently in Dubai. The agency is likely to send a team to Dubai for further investigations. The case had started with the confiscation of counterfeit currencies “worth” Rs 8,96,000 from Thalipparamba, Kannur on September 11.

The agency, which on Tuesday submitted its preliminary probe report in the Special CBI Court (designated NIA court) in Kochi, included two more persons – Aboobacker, also brother of second accused Kamal Haji, and Muthuvankattil Shanavas of Thrissur – as accused in the case.

The NIA has found that the counterfeit currencies, manufactured in Pakistan, were smuggled first into Dubai from Karachi port in containers and then rerouted to Kerala by air. The agency’s information is that such currencies “worth” crores of rupees have been smuggled into Kerala for helping Jihadi operations.

The agency has also learned that first accused Pradeep Kumar and Kamal Haji had gone abroad to examine the “quality” of the counterfeit currencies. The NIA had taken over the investigation of the case after doubts were aired about its possible connections to extremist operations.

Counterfeit intifada

Counterfeiting “infidel” currencies has become a common tactic among jihadist groups.  It has, for example, reached crisis proportions against the “Hindu” rupee.

Add Gaza to the list of counterfeiters of the kaffir U.S. dollar.  From Elder of Ziyon on July 11:

Ma’an (Arabic) reports that Hamas has arrested people who were counterfeiting American $100 bills in Gaza. They caught over $200,000 of fake currency.

The counterfeiters’ tool? An HP 5550 color laser printer.

Hamas has good reason to arrest the counterfeiters. After all, they want to make sure that they corner the market for themselves.

In her book, Funding Evil, Rachel Ehrenfeld described counterfeiting of Israeli shekels by terrorists in the Palestinian territories:  “[I]n April 2002 the IDF found ‘large quantities’ of counterfeit Israeli currency in denominations of 50-, 100-, and 200-sheqel notes, in Arafat’s compound in Ramallah” (p. 91 in the paperback edition).

Ehrenfeld also writes that Argentinian police alleged that Latin American based Hezbollah operative Assad Muhammad Barakat “had distributed $60 million in Colombian-printed counterfeit U.S. dollars, and that he had participated in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires…” (p. 150).

The lessons that the enemies of Israel have learned is that if we don’t give you enough millions of dollars in foreign aid, just Xerox your own!

Pakistan’s counterfeiting jihad against India

It’s not just a figment of the collective imaginations of India’s newspapers and Internet forums.  The U.S. State Department has released a report implicating Pakistan in the organized counterfeiting warfare operation against India and its economy.  The counterfeiting racket also helps fund terrorism.  From the Economic Times on Mar. 4:

WASHINGTON: India faces an increasing inflow of counterfeit currency, produced primarily in Pakistan, and terrorist and criminal networks use this money to finance their activities in the country, an official US report has said.

“India faces an increasing inflow of high-quality counterfeit currency, which is produced primarily in Pakistan but smuggled to India through multiple international routes,” said the 2011 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report of the State Department.

“Criminal networks exchange counterfeit currency for genuine notes, which not only facilitates money laundering, but also represents a threat to the Indian economy,” it said.

Tax avoidance and the proceeds of economic crimes (including fraud, cyber crime and identity theft) are still the mainstay of money launderers in India, but laundered funds are also derived from human and narcotics trafficking, transnational organised crime, illegal trade, particularly in endangered wildlife and illegal gems (principally diamonds), and corruption, the report said.

Noting that India is a significant target for terrorist groups, both external and domestic, the report said most terrorist activities are conducted by international terrorist groups and entities linked to the global jihad, with the support of both state and non-state external actors.

In addition, several domestic separatist and insurgent groups are active.

Terrorist groups often use counterfeit currency and hawaladars, as well as physical cross-border currency smuggling, to move funds from external sources to finance their activities in India, it said…

The rest of the article describes the State Department’s recommendations for the Indian government which you can read here.

Counterfeiting in India at crisis levels

Counterfeiting by Islamist groups has become widespread in South Asia.  It’s only kaffir paper currency.  Might as well steal, copy, and decimate it.  (See here, here, and here for semi-related coverage.)

Puneet Madaan sends in the latest on the counterfeiting saga from a Rediff article entitled “Fake money worth Rs 120,000,000,000,000 in India” on Oct. 26:

Even as the government of India speaks of taking preventive measures to curb the menace of fake currency, statistics show there is nearly Rs 12,00,000 crore worth of fake currency still in circulation in India.

While India managed to seal the fake currency’s Pakistan and Nepal route into India to a large extent, Inter Services Intelligence-sponsored operatives have furthered their activities by shifting base to Thailand.

These elements have been pumping in fake currency into the Indian market with help of operatives of the Dawood gang who have a strong base in Thailand.

The key player in this racket today is Aftab Bhakti, a D Gang operative who reports directly to Major Ali and Arshad Khan, both top ranking ISI officers.

Bhakti grew in stature, as he had been operating out of Thailand for nearly a decade. During his earlier stint, he coordinated with the mafia in Thailand on behalf of the D-gang. They were primarily into smuggling of drugs.

The D gang’s network is very deep-rooted in Thailand and there was already an existing route between this country and Bangladesh through which drugs were being smuggled.

Moreover, as this particular route was not on the radar of the Indian agencies, the ISI thought it would be best to use this route to transport fake currency as well.

Earlier, all notes were being printed in Pakistan and then transported into India through Nepal. However, the scenario changed post the November 26 attacks on Mumbai, which prompted the ISI to rethink its strategy.

In the current scenario, the notes are being printed in Thailand and then local operatives pump it in to India via Bangladesh.

Intelligence Bureau officials told rediff.com that they have shared information to this effect with the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into this case in India…

Puneet also forwarded an email he received from India along with the article.  The correspondent wrote:

Hawala still rampant 8 years after 9/11

At an anti-terrorism conference in India this week, one year after the jihadist attacks on Mumbai, the police chief for Jammu and Kashmir said that not enough is being done to stem the tide against hawala.  For readers who may be a little confused by hawala, this old diagram from the Washington Post illustrates the basics:

Unfortunately for our security in the world today, many hawala transactions are not so benign as WP’s cabbie scenario.  Here’s the real lowdown from The Hindu on the hawala today:

JMB revenues: zakat, ushr, and counterfeiting

The Daily Star reports that the jihadist organization, Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), is using money to encourage recruits to join or remain as JMB members.  The whole article is here, but the most interesting part is this fairly candid description of JMB revenue sources:

The change in the JMB’s recruitment strategy has increased the organisation’s overall expenditure, the official said adding that alongside JMB’s traditional source of income, a few NGOs and charity organisations are suspected to be providing funds to JMB.

“We’ve already got primary information about three to four such NGOs and charity organisations and are trying to get evidences against them,” a senior Rab intelligence official told The Daily Star wishing anonymity.

He, however, would not give the names of those NGOs and charity organisations before the investigation is over.

The traditional sources of JMB funding are its members’ contribution, Usl (zakat on harvested crops), Zakat, Fitra, leather of sacrificial cattle and contribution of local and foreign supporter and well-wishers.